One Seventh of Everything
by KaylieMarie
Summary: All James wanted was a chance to show Lily how much he cared - how important she was to him. All Lily wanted was to figure out what the butterflies really meant.
1. Tip Top Shape

Tip-Top Shape

"Look, Evans, I know that you think I'm a selfish, immature git, and while I'll admit that I don't always expose my finest moments when you're around, I can assure you, I'm really not that bad. The pranks don't actually mean anything. They're just funny. And hey, what's the problem with making other people laugh?" James Potter attempted to joke lightly as he stood in the corridor, merely a foot away from Ms. Lily Evans, who was looking at him incredulously and acting as if she was going to interrupt him at any moment.

James, catching on to the way her face shifted as she was about to insert something into the conversation, raised his hand quickly in defense and continued on. "_'Not if it's at another students' expense, it's not.' _I _know_ what you're going to say. And I get it. Sometimes we don't always think about how they might feel, which is a right inconsiderate thing to do. But I'm not as much of a horrible bloke as you think I am. Shocking, I know, but sometimes the general consensus is that I'm alright. If you, I dunno, maybe tried to stop hating me, you might be able to come to this conclusion yourself."

James laughed breezily, flashing Lily a nonchalant, lopsided grin. He was aiming for a simple, light approach to the topic, to appear as though this was just the easiest conversation that he had ever had. Anyone that actually picked up on James nervous ticks and movements would know, however, quite quickly, from the way he kept running his left hand through his hair, lightly scratching the scalp, that he was absolutely bloody ticking with nerves. His senses were in overdrive, sprinting to keep up with the all around aura of Lily that was setting him on – the smell of her hair, the sound of her uneven breathing, the heat of her body standing close to him; it was almost too much. James had known Lily for about six years now, and even though they had more than their fair share of run ins, and had even gotten up close and personal during a couple of arguments, James still couldn't desensitize himself from the jittery feelings that consumed him whenever she was near.

It was these jittery feelings that sometimes kept James on edge, like he had to be constantly aware of his actions whenever she was around, just so no one would figure out how really absorbed by her he really was. It was also these same jittery feelings, however, that fueled his fire for her. After two years of _really _noticing Lily Evan's presence – the way she twisted her hair as she listened to lectures in class, or how she pursed her plump lips together right before she started to get really cross with someone – and he was still completely enamored. She had a temper and could be downright unreasonably stubborn sometimes, but she was fiery and clever and always kept James on his toes. Even more so, James had been privileged enough to see Lily at her brightest moments too, so he knew that she was caring and loyal and actually had a sense of humor. There was just something about her that pulled James in. After years of explaining it to his mates, James could easily summon up various reasons and excuses about what made Lily so great and why he was so fascinated by her, but when it really came down to it, an even greater feeling pulled James to Lily. He couldn't quite say that he was in love with her (yet), as he didn't know every intricate facet of her personality, but there were definitely warm, fuzzy feelings associated with her.

The only person James had ever mentioned that unexplainable pull to was Sirius, and that was after hours of prodding. When James finally cracked, he spent five minutes mumbling mixed up fragments, trying to explain himself without sounding like a love-sick pansy, but no amount of mumbled "_accio_" s would have helped him conjure up the right words. After five minutes, Sirius just shook his head and laughed, leaving James to fantasize about Lily Evan's by himself. Sirius never quite understood the fascination, as Lily Evans was just as rude to Sirius as she was to James, perhaps even a bit harsher, as Sirius always fired back insults, rather than attempting to laugh it off the way James did. Sirius only took the mickey out of James every so often, though, as some part of Sirius (though maybe not a part of him that he publicly recognized) saw that James was more than just infatuated with the red-headed minx. Sirius could admit that she was a fox, with a nicely sculpted body and pretty face, but he knew that for James, it was more than that. James legitimately felt for the bird – would defend her honor and all that –, so Sirius attempted to leave it alone. Even if James made the teasing entirely too easy.

To anyone else, the looks James gave Lily, the persistence he had in fifth year with asking her out (even after varying shades of NO), and how he immediately defended her whenever someone spoke negatively of her, made it quite obvious that he had it bad. James just liked to live in his oblivious bubble and attempted to protect every last shred of dignity he believed he had by trying to hid his blatant affections. It didn't work.

In fifth year, with the constant asking of Evans out, everyone assumed it was a crush. That was okay, they said. So James Potter, accomplished student, almost-brilliant Quidditch player, fancied the studious and occasional party-pooper prefect Lily Evans. No big deal. After the big blowout between James, Lily, and Severus Snape at the end of fifth year, just about everyone assumed that James would give up on his version of courting Lily and move on. He couldn't though. The feeling that coursed through James when Snape had called Lily a mudblood was too strong to forget – exploding rage, an urge to protect the strong-willed girl, even after she tried to shrug Snape off and act like she didn't care. During sixth year, James demeanor changed. He no longer asked Lily out whatever opportunity he had, but rather tried to win her affections in a calmer way. He held the door open, smiled at her whenever they crossed paths, and always exchanged pleasantries whenever she was near enough to engage in conversation. Lily still hadn't warmed up to him, though, and her lack of thought given towards his affection had started to become discouraging. A late night pep talk with himself had forced James to move matters quicker. He had decided on having a conversation with her, one more attempt to try and persuade her that he wasn't just the jokester prat she always thought him to be. If she took the bait, thank Merlin. If she didn't, James vowed to finally leave her alone, even if he was almost sure that the feeling he got in his stomach when she was around would never change.

Lily shifted uncomfortably, keeping her gaze away from James' intense gaze. If she was going to be perfectly honest, she didn't hate him. Thought him rude and obnoxious, yes, but she sometimes also found him to be unexpectedly kind and caring. Things had always been rough in the relationship between Lily Evans and James Potter. She'd spent most of her Hogwarts career scoffing at his childish pranks and badmouthing his immature behavior. At the end of fifth year, she'd had enough. In the course of five minutes, James had (once again) asked Lily to go on a date, and Lily's best friend, Severus Snape, had made it blatantly obvious that he wasn't as accepting and caring as Lily thought him to be. Though she knew it irrational, Lily had spent most of the summer before fifth year blaming James, thinking that all of his behavior had been the cause of the abrupt ending of her longest friendship. Sixth year had changed things. James had acted civilly towards Lily, shockingly polite as he held open doors and always greeted her "good morning" in the dining hall. He still kept up his witty banter and clever remarks whenever Lily aimed an insult his way (quite often), but it seemed like James no longer aimed to make her angry. If anything, he almost seemed to aim to make her…laugh.

Lily sighed, finally lifting up her gaze to match James' hazel eyes. She was going to be honest with him, here.

"I don't hate you, Potter." She said, her voice sounding hollower than she would have liked. "I…find you exceptionally immature sometimes, but I don't hate you."

James kept his expression neutral as Lily gathered the right words.

"I suppose you can be alright, sometimes." Lily conceded, finally letting her tone lighten. She was too tired to have such a serious conversation. "If you try."

James eyes nearly sparkled with delight. He'd expected more of an argument from her, as Lily Evans was always a fiery girl, with a sharp tongue and occasionally uncontrolled temper. All James wanted from her right now was to be her friend. Everything else could wait. He was positive that after she finally gave in to his friendship, she would slowly become more accepting towards his blatant feelings towards her.

"I'll be on my best behavior." He promised, sending her a crooked grin. "Tip-top shape for you, Evans."

Lily rolled her eyes playfully, letting out a small laugh. "Best not to start our friendship out lying, don't you think?"

James didn't even look offended. He continued to chuckle, too elated by the fact that she hadn't hit him or started screaming or even walked away. "I'm not lying!" He protested. And in all honesty, in that moment, he wasn't. James did plan on being on his best behavior. His definition of "best behavior" was different from Lily's, though. To Lily, James' actions would be appropriate if he kept the mindless ridicule to a minimum and could engage in polite, thoughtful conversation. To James, though, the definition meant so much more. It was that moment that he promised so much more to Lily. He would keep her safe. He would keep her happy and laughing and full of joy. He would do anything to see her eyes shine with elation as she threw her head back and giggled.

She'd been one of the most important people to James since the beginning of fifth year and had started climbing the ladder even before that. Now, she was up there with his parents, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. She was one part of "his everything" and now he would finally get the chance to show her.


	2. You Never Asked

"You filthy little liar!" Lily exclaimed as she marched across the train corridor, pointing her finger to James and the shiny badge pinned onto his uniform vest.

"You never told me you were Head Boy!" Lily prodded a finger at the golden badge, glancing between it and the badge of her own, also nicely pinned onto her robes.

James laughed, shaking his head at her exuberant exclamations. Remus told him that she was going to act this way, especially after James mentioned that they had discussed Lily's Head Girl status in a few of their correspondence letters over the summer.

"You never asked!" James defended, stepping closer to her instinctively. James had been waiting in the Heads corridor for a bit, already changed into his robes and ready for Evans to find him. He knew that one of the first things she would do would be change and find her Head compartment. She took the title of Head Girl as a great honor, one of the biggest honors Hogwarts could offer. James could see some of the respect that came along with being Head Boy a perk, but all in all, he wasn't as thrilled about the job as Lily was. He would take responsibility for it, of course, but between classes, NEWT preparation, Quidditch, and his general schedule of Lily-stalking, James knew that his seventh and final year at Hogwarts was going to be stretched a bit thin.

"I did too!" Lily protested and, surprisingly, didn't shimmy away from James, but actually leaned in closer, with only inches separating them now. "When I first told you about getting Head Girl, one of the first things I said was, '_I wonder who the Head Boy is.' _That could've been your cue to 'fessing up!"

Lily's voice was loud, but it was not riddled with anger or annoyance, rather playfulness and laughter. Two years ago, Lily would have been agitated with James. Not that he hadn't told her, because two years ago Lily couldn't have imagined spending an entire summer writing letters to _James Potter_, but that Lily would have been forced to spend large chunks of time with James, even going as far to sharing the same living quarters. Now, Lily didn't really mind that James was Head Boy – hell, a small, almost undetectable part of her jumped with joy at the thought of patrolling corridors with Potter -, but she was a little addled that he had waited so long in telling her. If he would have told her in early August, when she first got her letter, they could've maybe met up and gotten scheduling and stuff out of the way early, rather than having to do it on the train to Hogwarts.

_You would've loved the excuse to see him anytime this summer, Evans. _

Lily chided herself. Though she would have liked to deny it, Lily knew the truth – a part of her was really, really starting to like James. She wouldn't go so far out there to say that she _fancied _him, because well, she really only had the end of sixth year and a (rather large) bundle of letters from over the summer to be exposed to this new James, but she very damn well did like their conversations. Lily found that, when she was willing to keep an open mind towards James, and James was willing to act like a civil bloke, their conversations were quite enjoyable. They'd spent the summer scribbling line after line on countless subjects, sharing opinions and emotions, as well as future plans and observations. By the end of the three months, they'd exhausted Lily's own owl, James owl, the Potter family owl, and the owls of Sirius, Remus, and Peter as well. Their last correspondence had been August 31st, when they ended previous conversations and promised to see each other on the train.

Now that they were both getting to see each other for the first time in _ninety-two days_ (they were both keeping count), neither could deny the new found spark. Lily's heart had leapt at just the sight of James in the Heads corridor, and she had felt even more when she saw the badge on his chest and realized how much time they would be spending together. James' breath had hitched when he realized that the flash of red buzzing towards him was, in fact, his Lily. He took in every inch of her face as she let out her exclamations, noting the new freckles that sprinkled along the bridge of her nose and cheekbones. She'd gotten a little color over the summer, though not much, and looked a little taller. Her button-down blouse skimmed her waist and her plain black skirt shaped her hips and thighs nicely. James wanted to count every freckle on her body. He wanted to run his hands along the bare skin of those curves. He wanted to stare into her face and cradle her in his arms.

_I love you. Merlin, Evans, I have it so bad. _

"You wondered who the Head Boy was, yes, but you never directly asked me if I knew who the lad was." James shrugged. "Wanted to surprise you. Figured you would freak out less about how ill-prepared I was for the job if you didn't have all summer to obsess over all the things I would fail to do correctly."

Although James was just teasing Lily, he was still leading the opening to a conversation about her opinion on his obviously ill-fit to being Head Boy. James wanted to get this conversation over quickly, so he could get onto lighter stuff and asking Lily about just about everything she'd done in the last twenty-four hours.

Lily blushed. Although there had been a moment, sandwiched somewhere between shock at James keeping a secret and joy that he was going to be living across the hall from her, Lily had briefly wondered if James was going to step up to the plate for the job and assist her in maintaining the prefects and keeping order with the students. It had only been a brief moment, though, and though Lily was painfully aware at James' notorious prankster past, she was now also aware of his charm and undeniable leadership skills. Between Lily's meticulous eye for details and knack for rules, the pair should work out. Hopefully.

"I thought no such thing." She lied. "You'll be a brilliant Head Boy. Superb, managing prefects and subtracting points and taking everything on with the utmost responsibility and care. I have complete confidence in you." Lily grimaced towards the end of her spiel, wondering if she was perhaps laying it on too thick.

Her lie was detectable, especially from James, who practically had Lily's speaking mannerisms down to a science. He knew damn well if she was lying or telling the truth.

James raised an eyebrow incredulously, waiting for her to rescind her previous statement and finally tell him what she thought.

"Okay, maybe I have the utmost confidence that I'll be telling you to subtract points and actually punish people, but still. You'll do great!"

James just shook his head playfully and Evans smiled up at him. It was smiles like that that got James in trouble. During the end of their sixth year, when Lily slowly started warming up to James, everyone realized how dangerous Evans' smiles really were. Just a quick flash of teeth and James was disoriented, distracted from his friends or a professor. His eyebrows would furrow in concentration and James would inspect Lily's face, the happiness sinking down into his core. Smiles like that could change James' mood dramatically. Sirius had joked about attempting to bottle Lily's smile and whip it out whenever a Quidditch practice was especially brutal or James woke up in a particularly bad mood.

"Come here, Evans." James didn't even bother to hold out his arms and wait for her to step into them. Rather, James stepped forward, closing the gap between their bodies and wrapping his arms around her petite waist. Lily's body fit snugly into James' larger one. She wrapped her arms around his back as well, nestling her head into the crook of his neck. She tried to discreetly take in James' scent, a mix of Cleaning Charms and broomstick and just _James. _

"Missed you." James muttered into Lily's hair.

Lily flushed, flattered by his kind words. Part of her wanted to say it back, because it was true. She had missed him. Whatever part of James that was slowing growing on Lily had been sorely missed for the past three months. Rather than telling James this, though, Lily simply nodded.

"We talked yesterday." She said with a roll of her eyes, though the roll was entirely forced.

"Exactly. Yesterday. Yesterday is not today, therefore it has been entirely too long since I've had a stimulating conversation. And yesterday, I couldn't do this." James pressed his lips against Lily's forehead and pulled the redhead even closer to him. There was literally no space between their bodies.

This time, Lily did roll her eyes naturally. Sometime he was just so cheesy.

"I'm sure Sirius will appreciate the fact that you don't consider him stimulating conversation."

James merely shrugged. "He understands. I merely keep him around for his boyish good looks. That, and he always has the good firewhiskey."

Lily laughed as she pulled away. "You little sneak." She grinned. She'd slowly gotten accustomed to James' hugs, and sometimes they were even looked forward to.

"I'm glad to be back," said James, looking around at the Hogwarts Express. This was the last first ride he was ever going to have on this train, and he damn well was going to appreciate it.

"We're not even there yet."

"We will be soon, though. Anyway, Head Girl, we have things to discuss. So sit, sit." James sat down on one of the comfortable corridor seats and patted the space next to him.

Lily paid him no attention and sat across from him, crossing her legs primly as she sank into the cushioned seats. The Heads corridor was slightly larger than the others, and the seats were definitely more comfortable.

James stared at Lily for a second, waiting for her to start speaking, and then he realized that he was the one that initiated the conversation and invited her to sit down.

He cleared his throat. "So, prefect schedules and Hogsmeade weekends and…stuff. Exciting. Apparently, now that you're Head Girl, and I'm, well, me, we get to help plan these things."

"Don't you think we should wait until we meet with Dumbledore until we start planning?" asked Lily, tucking one leg underneath her bum as she shifted in the seat.

"Can't hurt to have ideas." James suggested.

Lily stared at James for a second. He wasn't the type to openly admit to planning for things early. If anything, he was a procrastinator.

"No, it can't hurt." Lily said diplomatically. "But it also wouldn't hurt to see our friends a bit before the prefects meeting and then hash this stuff out later."

James looked shocked, but grinned. "Miss Head Girl, are you _honestly _suggesting that we _neglect_ our responsibilities as the heads of this school so we can go play with our _friends_?"

Lily squirmed a bit uncomfortably. When James said it like that, Lily felt guilty. She was anxious to see her friends, yes, but she didn't want to begin the year by neglecting head duties. Ideas really _couldn't _hurt, and Lily was sure that Dumbledore would be pleased to see that the two were working together well even before the school year started. No one really knew that James and Lily had called a truce besides their James' immediate friends, as their conversation happened at the end of sixth year and there wasn't a lot of time for the two to start showing their friendship in public.

"Never mind." Lily shook her head. "You're right. We should start brain storming now. For the prefects schedules -,"

"Woah, Evans, I was _kidding._" James laughed. "I've corrupted you – it's wonderful. We can do all of this later."

"No, no, we should start now -,"

Now it was James' turn to roll his eyes at Lily. "Go find MacDonald, Lily. I'll see you around."

James stood the same time Lily did, but let her walk through the compartment door first, following behind. The train had been moving for about a half an hour. Most of the compartments were full, the ones in the front of the train with nervous first years and the ones in the back mostly filled with upperclassmen.

Lily stopped in front of the same compartment she'd sat in for the last three years. She slid the door open quickly, coming face to face with a blonde reading a book and a brunette brushing her hair.

"Lily!" Mary, the brunette, exclaimed, setting her hairbrush down and jumping up to give the redhead a hug.

Emmeline got up as well, setting her book down and joining the two girls in a group hug. They hadn't seen each other all summer and had only sent a couple of casual letters. Mary spent most of her summer with her family and Emmeline was visiting her dad in France, while Lily sat around her house and owled James.

"I missed you guys." Lily smiled, removing herself from the group hug and going to sit down.

Emmeline sat down as well, but Mary remained standing, her eyes on James, who was casually leaning against the frame of the compartment.

"Good summer, James?" Mary asked.

James nodded. "As always. What about you, MacDonald?"

Mary shrugged. "Same old."

James and Mary had always gotten along marginally better than James and Lily or say, Mary and Sirius, but Mary was still under the impression that James and Lily had tension between them.

Mary moved to sit down, and James waved at Lily quickly.

"See you later, Ms. Head Girl," he departed with a wink. Lily waved back weakly, blushing as her friends ogled at the two of them.

James shut the compartment door behind him.

"'Ms. Head Girl'?" Mary quoted incredulously. "You two have _nicknames _now?"

Lily shifted uncomfortably. "Not really. It was just something stupid that he made up. You know how James is."

"'_James_'?" Emmeline spoke up. "You – you called him _James." _

Lily flushed. If she had known that her friends were going to cause such an uproar over her this friendship with James, she would have told them during the summer so they had time to get used to the idea.

"We're – we're friends." Lily defended. She was friends with James. She _liked_ being friends with James, so far at least. Their friendship hadn't withstood the test of time, or even the test of the Hogwarts gossip chain, but so far, things had been good.

"Since when?" Mary demanded.

"Since the end of last year, I guess."

"How did this happen?" Emmeline didn't sound quite as incredulous as Mary, but her tone still held some disbelief.

Lily shrugged. "The end of last year, we talked. We figured stuff out, more or less. And then he wrote me this summer and we started talking and I realized that I didn't really mind him as much as I thought I did. When he doesn't act like an arrogant prat, at least."

"Holy hippogriff," Mary swore. "I never thought I'd see the day when you openly admitted to being friends with, even liking, James Potter. Should I start looking for a bridesmaid dress?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Not with that attitude, you shan't. And I said I'm friends with James, not that I _like _him. I mean, I like him fine, but I don't _like him, like him." _

"Mature way of wording it." Emmeline scoffed.

Lily just looked at her two best friends, waiting for more questions that she would shrug off. She was friends with James Potter. It wasn't as if she suddenly decided to marry the bloke and run off and have many messy-haired, ginger babies. They were going to be civil towards each other, perhaps even have some humorous banter during classes. If anything, Lily had assumed her friends would be happier about the new establishment, as it meant less tension.

"You oughtn't get too excited. We're just friends. It's going to be just the same as last year."

Mary looked like she was about to protest some more, but Emmeline just shook her head and picked up her book again.

"Anyway," Lily changed the subject. "How are you?"

"Excited and nostalgic that we're starting our seventh year," said Mary.

Lily nodded her head understandingly. "I feel about the same. Everything just feels so final."

"This is the last first year we're ever going to have. I feel like I should be doing something great, making this last train ride count, but there's not much to do." Mary's eyes glanced around the corridor, possibly trying to find something exciting and time-consuming, but found nothing suitable.

"We can't do much," Lily agreed. "Besides, I have the prefects meeting in a few hours and have to start getting ready for when we arrive."

"You're going to be busy this year." Emmeline observed, dog-earing her book and setting it down.

"Between Head duties, NEWT classes, and James, you're barely going to have enough time to sleep." Mary kept her face neutral, as if she hadn't just attempted to slyly slip a James comment in conversation.

Lily opened her mouth to protest, but knowing that it wasn't going to be worth it, decided that when Mary said "James" she really meant "friends", as that was _precisely _what James was.

"Suppose so."

Lily looked away, her eyes resting on the window and the passing scenery. The English countryside was whizzing by them, the landscape a blur as they moved.

"Prefects should be here in a few minutes." Lily told James as he ducked through the entrance of the corridor. He was supposed to meet her here ten minutes ago, and she had been waiting for him impatiently, her left foot bouncing as the minutes ticked by. She'd already outlined a meeting outline for what they were going to discuss and she would have liked to gone over it with him.

James winced at the impatience in Lily's voice. He'd only been on the train for a few hours and he was already making her cross with him. He hadn't planned on being late for the meeting – he'd even asked Remus to remind him ten minutes before their scheduled time – but they'd been engrossed in a rather loud game of Exploding Snaps and had lost track of time. When James glanced at his watch, he'd sprinted down the hall.

"Sorry, sorry." He apologized. He didn't bother to promise that it wouldn't happen again, because it probably would, but he was authentic when he said he was sorry.

Lily stared at James for a few seconds. She was irritated, yes, but it wasn't nearly as much irritation as she usually felt for Potter when he did something stupid.

"It's fine." She conceded, even though it wasn't completely. "Here's the meeting outline." She thrust the piece of parchment in his hand.

James took it with a small, apologetic smile. Prefects meetings seemed like a bore.

"Do you just want to alternative topics, then?" James asked, after scanning the parchment.

Lily nodded, but said nothing else. She stood a few inches beside James, facing the door.

Prefects slowly began to trickle in. Lily watched them nervously. She wanted to be Head Girl longer than she wanted to be anything else, and now that she finally had the badge and the new title, she was desperately afraid that she was going to muck it up. Lily felt guilty for thinking it, but a part of her knew that if Remus was Head Boy, she would be more at ease. Lily could trust Remus. She knew that she could trust James, too, but for different things. She was wary that he was going to be able command order over the castle he had caused chaos on for so long.

Lily let out a loud breath to calm herself down.

James looked over at her. She looked nervous, he thought. Like she was concentrating too hard.

"Lily?"

Her concentration snapped and she looked up at him. "Hmm?"

"You okay?" James asked. He pivoted his body in front of her, so no one else could see the look of anxiety plastered on her face.

Lily didn't even seem to consider her answer. "Yeah, m'fine." She mumbled.

James raised an eyebrow, but didn't question her. If he knew nothing else, it was that Lily Evans didn't like being questioned about her feelings. Years of continuously asking _why _she didn't like him and getting glared at and eventually hexed taught him that.

Instead, James nodded. "Alright." He said soothingly. "You're going to be great, Ms. Head Girl." He tried to assure her. "Rule the school with an iron fist and all that."

Lily just looked at James. Here he was, trying to make her feel comfortable and less nervous, and she was doubting his abilities before he'd even proven her wrong. Maybe things would be bad this year, if only because she wouldn't give James the credit he deserved.


End file.
